Published in the Morning Call, June 23, 2008 In 1965, Communist China was one of the poorest countries of the world. Chairman Mao Tse-Tung created a program—widely known as the Barefoot Doctors program—to provide health care for his impoverished people. The Barefoot Doctors, who had a minimal level of medical training, offered basic primary care to people for whom no other medical care was available. Continue reading
Originally published in The Harrisburg Post-Gazette, June 17, 2008 In January 2007, Governor Rendell introduced Cover All Pennsylvanians, a plan to provide health insurance coverage for the uninsured. In March 2008, the Democratic House leadership introduced a new plan, called Pennsylvania Access to Better Care, (PA ABC), to insure about 275,000 uninsured adults over the next five years. That plan passed with substantial Republican support soon after. Since March, the Senate Republican leadership has blocked consideration of this legislation. Continue reading
Evidently transparency only goes so far in the Nutter administration. It was widely reported that the budget plan adopted by Council retained the Cohen Wage Tax Rebate but delays implementation of the program for another year until 2014. Now it is itself is a bit of a farce to delay the beginning of the program until after the next election for Mayor or Council. Michael Nutter wouldn’t claim to be serving the interests of the business community by promising a big BPT cut in 2014 but doing nothing now. But now it seems that this farce is the least of our problems. Stan Shapiro recently sent an email that said It turns out that the Cohen rebate has actually been stunted, not just postponed. Under the law as it is now, the rate for low wage workers would go down to 1.5% no matter what, in yearly half percent increments… Continue reading
When I worked for SEIU I was limited in what i could blog. So I wrote this under an assumed name for Young Philly Politics. Before citing it, please read the note at the end. You would think that, with the Nutter administration securing a substantial victory on tax policy, talk of the “job-killing business tax” would be on the decline. Continue reading
That is the title for a blog post I’ve wanted to use for years. SEPTA has named a consumer advocate, Kim Scott Heinle, who is going to focus on msking the agency “available, responsive, honest and open.” Details are here: http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/20080425_SEPTA_names_customer_advoc…. I was a little skeptical of the appointment of an insider, Joe Casey, to replace Faye Moore as General Manager of SEPTA, although I said at the time that I have found most of the SEPTA managers I’ve worked with to be honest and responsive individuals who seem caught up in a system that too often was unresponsive and prone to dissembling. I knew Joe Casey just a little but he seemed like a decent guy. Now I’m really happy a to say that Casey is starting out very well. This move, along with others he has made, shows that he understands how frustrated people are in their daily… Continue reading
I wrote this for Dr. Valerie Arkoosh to sign. It was published in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on April 16, 2008 I am a physician. And like so many other physicians in Pennsylvania, I’m waiting for the General Assembly to restore the MCare abatement program. MCare was set up to reduce medical malpractice premiums, which had risen to the point that physicians were leaving the state in droves. Since 2002, physicians in Pennsylvania have purchased half of their required malpractice insurance from the MCare program and the other half from private insurers. Most physicians get back half of their MCare costs while those of us in high-risk specialties receive a full abatement. But the abatement program expired in December and bills for MCare are due at the end of this month. While we doctors wait for our abatements, about 750,000 adults in Pennsylvania, most of whom work full time, also are… Continue reading
I wrote this piece for two small business owners to sign. It was originally published on 2008-04-02 in the Philadelphia Daily News By PETER HANDLER & KAREN SINGER NOBODY will benefit more from HB 2005, the health-insurance reform bill now wending its way through the state Legislature, than the commonwealth’s small businesses. Yet the official lobbyists in Harrisburg for small business – the Chamber of Commerce and the National Federation of Independent Businesses – are fighting to block it. Continue reading
The members of the Pennsylvanian’s United for Affordable Health Care and the Pennsylvania Health Access Network met with policy staff of the Rendell Administration and the policy chair of the Democratic caucus, Todd Eachus last week. From what we heard, the administration and the caucus are working together to forge a bill to extend health insurance to most of those with out it. The bill has a chance of being passed by the House of Representatives this year—that’s right, before the session ends on December 19. What that bill will look like in detail is still up in the air. In broad outline in will follow the Cover All Pennsylvanian’s part of Governor Rendell’s Prescription for Pennsylvania. (Another part of the RxPA, which will regulate the insurance industry so as to reduce inflation in health care costs, is in HB 2005, which was recently passed by the Insurance Committee of… Continue reading
The transfer issue is finally, totally over. Today was the last day for SEPTA to file an appeal of last month’s Commonwealth Court decision that kept transfers in place. (Technically the Commonwealth Court declared that SEPTA’s appeal of Judge DiVito’s decision to block it from eliminating transfers was moot because SEPTA had already adopted a different fare plan, one that kept transfers.) SEPTA did not appeal. I don’t know why SEPTA made this decision, since they typically play everything out to the end. I suppose one reason is that they saw that they were unlikely to prevail. But I’m going to be an optimist today and hope that SEPTA’s decision is a sign that SEPTA is going to be a better partner for the city and for transit riders. There is no reason SEPTA shouldn’t be. There are a lot of people in this city who really believe in public… Continue reading
Yesterday, the State Department of General Services (DGS), which is building the Convention Center Expansion, ignored a ruling by the State Historical Commission, and started demolishing two historic buildings that stand in the path of the new building. This is doubly disappointing. It is important that we save these buildings. And the way in which the DGS, and our political leaders, are acting is truly despicable. Evidently it was too expensive to violate the trust of the people the way we usually do them in this state–which would have meant that the demolition would have started at 2 am. Instead, the state has acted at the next most nefarious time, when the holiday season is upon us and we were celebrating, among other things, a decision that we thought would protect these buildings. The whole story is below. Read it. And then email Governor Rendell and ask him to order… Continue reading